I have searched through the records that mention anything about a Loiacono family and have not found anything that could possibly match what I am searching for.My paternal great grandfather was Vincenzo G(J)iacomo Loiacono b.15 Feb 1890 in Modugno, Bari, Puglia, Italy, m. Antoinette Famiglia (I know...Not a "real" Italian surname. More on that in another post) in abt 1920 in Chicago Illinois USA, d. 1 Mar 1966 Chicago Illinois USA. He departed Naples, Italy on the Ship "Bulgaria" and arrived at the port of New York, New York on 3 May 1907. He seems to have arrived alone and the Passenger List says something to the effect that he was going to meet is uncle, Dominic Vitale, but the location is illegible.

All of the details that I have about Vincenzo, who was always though to be named James among his grand children, come from US Immigration Passenger lists, birth and death certificates of himself and his family members, and the US Federal Census. He apparently did not share any information about his "Italian past" with his children/grand-children.

On that note, the next record I can find for Vincenzo is the 1930 US Federal Cenus, which he lists himself as James Loiacono and is Married to Antoinette with 3 children. He seems to vanish(on paper that is) in between 1907 and 1930. I am even unable to find a marriage record for James and Antoinette around 1920 and in Illinois, which was always where they were believed to be married. James was a Labourer and worked wherever he could get work around the city of Chicago. He could neither read nor write.

So in short, if this story sounds at all familiar to you please respond, I would appreciate and information I can get. Also, I would very much like to know if I have relatives in or around Modugno and/or Bari. If you are from either one of these cities and recognise this story, please respond, even if it is in Italian. Unfortunately I do not speak Italian, but I will figure out the message.

Thanks so much for your help. I had found a WWI registration card for a Vincenzo Loiacono but I decided it was the wrong one...and I believe that you have found the correct one.However, I have a question, James was not naturalized until 1939 so would he still have had to fill out a draft card?

I also have a WWII draft card, which I am very certain is him. I have a 1940 US Census, a Naturalization Document, a Social Security Death Record and 2 Documents from the Bulgaria's Passenger list on 3 Mar 1907 which I believe are him.

As far as the marriage goes, I found one record of a Vincenzo Loiacono married around 1920 in Illinois. But the spouse is completely wrong. I did however find a marriage record in Indiana in July 1920, which looks like it could be the correct one, but this makes little sense to me since it is Indiana.

I have all of this documentation on my ancestory.com account. If you also have an account I can point you to my tree and Vincenzo's record so you can see what documentation I have already recovered.

Hey Laura !I'm glad we could make just a bit of progress.Yes he would have to register even though he was an alien at the time.I agree with you - his marriage was most likely in Cook County.Do you know where his wife Antoniette was in 1917?I tried several spellings of Loiacono at the Cook County site w/o success for their marriage recordhttp://www.cookcountygenealogy.com/SignIn.aspxI noticed a few family pages containing Vincenzo Loiacono on ancestry, which one is yours?I'm going to look for the 1920 census again, no doubt between 1917 and 1930 they were somewhere near W Ohio Street in NW Chicago.Thanks!Valarie

The SS-5, or Application for Social Security Number is a great resource for learning more about individuals who died after about 1960, and generally includes the following:

- Full name - Full name at birth, including maiden name - Present mailing address - Age at last birthday - Date of birth - Place of birth - Father's full name - Mother's full name, including maiden name - Sex - Race as indicated by the applicant - Whether the applicant ever applied for Social Security or Railroad Retirement before - Current employer's name and address - Date signed - Applicant's signature

Please Note: ... under our current policy, we do not release the parents’ names on an SS-5 application unless the parents' are proven deceased, have a birth date more than 120 years ago, or the number holder on the SS-5 is at least 100 years of age.

lloiaco wrote:... He departed Naples, Italy on the Ship "Bulgaria" and arrived at the port of New York, New York on 3 May 1907. He seems to have arrived alone and the Passenger List says something to the effect that he was going to meet is uncle, Dominic Vitale, but the location is illegible...

Laura,for everyone's reference, the 1907 manifest that you already haveValarie

Wow, thats incredible that you could read the location on the manifest! Thanks....hmmm this seems to provide more proof into the other family tree that I found referencing "my Vincenzo Loiacono". I will try to dig more too.

If Dominico Vitale did live in WV, then this strengthens the evidence that Vincenzo had a brother named Pietro Loiacono b.June 8, 1905 Modugno Bari Pugia Italy who arrived in the US in 1921 and a father by the name of Giovanni Loiacono who remained in Italy. The ship manifest of the Taormina on 12 Aug 1921 suggests that Pietro Loiacono had a father in Italy named Giovanni and a brother Vincenzo who at that time was living in Chicago's "Litte Italy".

Laura,If the naturalization information is correct, then this may be the correct manifest(he may have filed his first papers in 1918, but not naturalized until 1939)Have you considered this other manifest from 1907?

This Vincenzo was born abt 1890, traveling with his father Giuseppe (Joseph)(Italian naming traditions would have Vincenzo's 1st son named after his father)

(note: many people from the same town and extended families emigrated to the same locations to find work. In WV work was usually coal mining. Many folks traveled back and forth more than once)

notes: 11 in 1937 was Chicago, IL: Northern IL, Eastern IA, Northwest IN, Southeast WIthe date would have been about the time the gov't would have confirmed his arrival, after he applied for naturalization

Ok, so now you've got me. First of all, I am curious about the number on the Passenger list that you quoted was for the naturalization application....if this number refers to the naturalization appilication then this means that years after the arrival "they" went back through the "books", so to speak, to record the naturalization information? Can I then assume that any entry without a naturalization number means that the person was never naturalized?

Secondly, From the Naturalization document I located on ancestory.com...i.e. U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1992 (Indexed in World Archives Project), the information is as follows....

The Address is the same address as the one listed on Antoinette's Naturalization papers so I am fairly certain this document is for the correct Vincenzo Loiacono.

This doesn't seem to match the information in your last post? Can you explain to me the relationship between the naturalization numbers/date that are on the Passenger list you found and the numbers/date that is on the Naturalization documents on ancestory.com. I am definitely a "newbie" at this and this is one thing that is definitely not obvious to me.

Ah, ok, rereading your last post I am starting to get it. I should educate myself a bit more on these records before I can contribute intelligent information from here but there is one thing I don't understand.....if the arrival date of 6/28/1907is correct then NO record from the 3 May 1907 Bulgaria can be the correct one, no?

Hey Laura!I hope you don't worry about making mistakes on the forum - we do it all the time !Unless there were two Vincenzo Loiacono's living on Ohio Street in Chicago born in 1890 (it can happen, especially with cousins!)then, I'm pretty sure the June 1907 manifest is the correct one.The six digit number is an 'application' number...Valarie

In 1926, the occupation column was set aside for annotations relating to the verification of immigration records for naturalization purposes.

Since 1906, no immigrant who arrived after June 29, 1906, could naturalize until the government located their immigration record. Thus since 1906, after an immigrant filed a Declaration of Intention or a Petition for Naturalization in a naturalization court, the Bureau of Naturalization was called upon to provide a certification of the immigrant's arrival record. The certification, called a "Certificate of Arrival," was sent to the courthouse to satisfy the naturalization requirement that everyone who arrived since June 29, 1906 had to have a legal immigration record if they wanted to become a U.S. citizen.

From 1906 to 1926 this activity took place without any notation made on the passenger list being certified.

But in 1926 verification clerks began to record the verification (record check) and certification activity on each passenger list record. This change came about in response to a terrible scandal about fraudulent naturalizations. By noting that a given immigration record had been used to support an individual naturalization, the annotation served in future to prevent anyone else from using that record for another naturalization.

While the annotations may be found on any passenger list, before or after 1926, they will all relate to naturalization activity occurring in 1926 or later (see below). Remember also that the passenger lists were microfilmed in 1942/43, so records of immigrants who arrived earlier but did not begin the naturalization process until after 1942 could not be annotated.

All the verification for naturalization annotations follow a prescribed format containing one or more of the following elements:

District number where the application was filed, application number, date of verification, and document issued.

... Note that not all annotations of this type will contain every element.

​As a nation state, Italy has emerged only in 1871. Until then the country was politically divided into a large number of independant cities, provinces and islands. The currently available evidences point out to a dominant Etruscan, Greek and Roman cultural influence on today's Italians.The earliest...

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